“Regular Coke or regular Pepsi is just pure junk but most people drink them,” he says.

The consumer group is asking the Food and Drug Administration to order lower sugar levels in soft drinks.

A 20-ounce soda has about 16 teaspoons of sugar — that’s twice the daily limit recommended by the American Heart Association.

Jacobson’s colleague, Walter Willett, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health says you’d make a better choice reaching for a diet soft drink.

“We can’t say that we’re absolutely certain of no harm, but they would absolutely be better off,” Willett says.

That’s contrary to the findings of French researchers who announced just days ago that they found a 33 percent increase in risk of Type 2 diabetes, reports French business daily Les Echos. The study was among those who drank one 12-ounce serving of artificially sweetened soft drinks a day compared to those who don’t.